ISSUE – Dec. 14 | ClassPass’ CMO on How and When to Invest in Product Marketing

It’s the stuff that keeps CMOs up at night: the time had come to sunset a beloved product, and customers were going to care. A lot. It wasn’t a question of whether there would be press, but how rough it would be. And social media was about to light up with the news.

That very scenario recently played out for ClassPass CMO Joanna Lord — and she couldn’t be more grateful.

The fitness startup phased out its unlimited membership option, a disappointing decision for the company and its users alike. But it gave Lord and her team a chance to double down on what product marketers do best: they spent nearly a month preparing for every question and comment, every tweet and customer service call. Internally, they huddled with product, marketing, sales and CX to devise new product offerings that would satisfy — delight, even — the affected users. And in the end, ClassPass emerged with both a more sustainable product offering and a deeper understanding of what its users wanted.